


A Hero is Built

by Kyodon



Category: Iron Man (Comics), 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: Established Relationship, F/M, Future Fic, Midoriya Izuku Adopts Eri, Midoriya Izuku is Iron Man, Quirkless Midoriya Izuku, Rich Midoriya Izuku, Vigilante Midoriya Izuku, except not really
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-02
Updated: 2020-12-02
Packaged: 2021-03-10 05:08:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 17,167
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27838867
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kyodon/pseuds/Kyodon
Summary: Midoriya Izuku should be happy. He's the head of the world's biggest tech and support gear company, one of the richest people in the world, and he was married to his dream woman. He should be happy, and he is...but not fully. Ever since giving up on his dream, he's felt incomplete. He never stopped wanting to be a hero, but he simply no longer believed he could. That is until one day he is kidnapped by the Yakuza, and everything changes. Not only do they reveal his tech is being stolen and sold to villains in the black market, but they also have a small girl whom they're harvesting for blood to make a devastating weapon. With no pros coming, Izuku needs to become the hero he always wanted to be, using his brain and all the tools given to him, he will become, the Iron Man.
Relationships: Eri & Midoriya Izuku, Midoriya Izuku/Uraraka Ochako
Comments: 8
Kudos: 82





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I know there are a lot of Iron Man Izuocha fics on this site. This fic is not inspired by any other fics.

Fireworks lit off in the sky! And the buildings of I-Island were covered in bright lights.

"We are here at the International I-Island Technology Expo! The most exciting show of technology in the world! Said a Newswoman to a camera. "Now, after the tech demonstrations! It's time for the award ceremony!"

The crowd cheered inside the stadium as the head of the expo, Melissa Shield took the stage.

"Hello everybody!" Melissa said into the microphone. "Thank you all for coming! I hope you've all been enjoying the expo so far!"

"WOOOHHHHHH!" The crowd cheered.

"I think that answers my question." Melissa smiled. "Then without further ado! Let's get the award ceremony started!"

"YEAAAHHHHH!" The crowd went wild.

Melissa's assistant came and gave her the award.

"Now. At most award ceremonies, they save the best for last! But! We're not going to make you all wait in suspense! Let's start with the big one!" Melissa exclaimed. "The award, for most advanced support technology, goes too….Midoriya Industries!"

The crowd cheered, but a little more quietly this time.

"Now as per usual, Izuku Midoriya won't be appearing in person, and instead his lovely wife will be receiving the award. Give it up for Ochaco Midoriya everyone!" Melissa said.

Ochaco walked up to the stage to roaring applause, and a few envious glares, in a fancy yet rather simple dress.

"Thank you, everyone!" Ochaco said, taking the award. "Me and my husband are happy to receive this wonderful award, for the fifth time in a row. And of course, I'll be happy to accept all the other awards we'll be earning tonight."

"Oh, a bit cocky aren't we?" Melissa playfully teased. "Well then again given past expo's I can't exactly fault you."

"Yes, but before we go on." Ochaco pulled out a flashcard. "Izuku wrote down a speech for once."

"Some words from the elusive Izuku Midoriya! Make sure to pay attention everyone!" Melissa said.

Ochaco cleared her throat. "Thank you, everyone. I am honored and overjoyed to be receiving such an important and prestigious award. While I am the one receiving the award, I would like to bring some attention to all the people who helped me get to where I am. To my employees, my investors, and of course my customers. To my mother who supported me through everything. And most of all...to my wife, who's been with me since the beginning...and who without I would be nothing."

"Awwww." Went some of the crowd.

"We as makers of support gear, are in charge of helping the heroes who keep us from destruction. We are the ones who help them overcome obstacles that wouldn't be able to otherwise and we are the ones in charge of boosting to new heights." Ochaco continued. "I may be the one winning the award, but we all have an important role to play! Let's continue the good work!"

"YAAAAAAA!" The crowd gave a rousing applause.

Ochaco bowed and walked off stage.

Later, in the hotel room.

Izuku Midoriya, C.E.O., and owner of Midoriya industries was currently sitting on his hotel bed typing away on his laptop, working on new technology, when suddenly the door slammed open and Ochaco walked in.

"God I hate these things!" Ochaco said, referring to her overly expensive and very uncomfortable heels.

She quickly unstrapped her feet from the height extending torture devices, before throwing them to the other side of the room.

"I said you shouldn't have bought those. I told you your feet would hurt." Izuku closed his laptop and directed all his attention to her. "You could have just gotten something more comfortable."

"Yeah, but comfortable and good looking don't go together." Ochaco sighed as she kept getting undressed. "And if I don't look my best then we'll get fifty online posts about how I might secretly be a Nomu. And besides these shoes were a steal! They look way more expensive than they actually are."

"You always look your best," Izuku grumbled. "And anyone who calls you a Nomu isn't worth listening to."

Ochaco gave a kind smile at her husband, walking up to him and cupping his face in her hands. "I know, but not everyone can see things like you do. And I have to make sure the public opinion is high."

Then, Ochaco's expression changed from loving and tender to upset and disappointed. "Speaking of opinions. The card."

"Yeah, you changed it." Izuku pointed out.

"Of course I changed it!" Ochaco yelled, taking her hands off Izuku and pulling out the card. "I'm not if really deserve this! I wouldn't be able to do anything without help! Izuku, what have I said about self-deprecation!"

"I wasn't doing that, I was just being humble!" Izuku argued, waving his hand defensively.

"Ok, first of all. There is a time and place for humbleness. If you're too humble or are doing it at the wrong time, then it actually makes you sound arrogant. And two, no you weren't!" Ochaco scolded him.

She walked over to the door, before opening it and yelling down the hall. "Chizome! Bring me one of the awards!"

Izuku gave her a confused look. "What are you-"

Their bodyguard, Chizome Akaguro, showed up quickly with one of the awards they had gotten. "Here you are."

"Thank you. You're dismissed." Ochaco said, letting Chizome bow and take his leave before closing the door.

Then she grabbed Izuku, dragged him in front of a mirror, and stuck the trophy in his hand.

"Look at that," Ochaco said. "You did this. You earned this!"

"Yeah, but I couldn't have done this without-" Ochaco cut him off.

"And without you, this could never have been done," Ochaco said. "Repeat after me. I deserve this."

"I...deserve this?" Izuku said hesitantly.

"Louder!" Ochaco chanted. "More confidence! Don't look at me, look at the mirror!"

"I deserve this," Izuku said, slightly more confidently. Like he was trying to convince himself.

"Louder! Believe in yourself!" Ochaco encouraged.

"I deserve this!" Izuku yelled at the mirror.

"Again!" Ochaco shouted.

"I deserve this!" Izuku repeated.

"One more time!" Ochaco said.

"We deserve this!" Izuku shouted, a smile forming on his face.

"That's right-hey!" Ochaco said. "That's cheating."

"Maybe. But I feel better about taking credit for things if you're taking credit with me." Izuku laughed.

Ochaco started laughing with him. "Fine, fine. If it helps."

Ochaco moved Izuku's arms up, moved in front of him, and then lowered his arms around her, then put her hands on Izuku's.

"There. Feel better?" She asked, smiling brightly at him.

"Much." Izuku smiled back at her.

The two of them laughed for a little while before returning to their conversation.

"I'm sorry for making you go out there by yourself." Izuku apologized.

"Aghhh! Izuku I love you but you need to stop apologizing! Trust me, I'll tell you if you've done anything you need to apologize about." Ochaco said. "Understood."

"Understood." Izuku smiled.

"Good. And, if you want to make it up to me." Ochaco slid out of his arms. "You'll go to the investor tech demonstration."

Izuku's smile fell, and he started to look away from Ochaco. "Ochaco I…"

Izuku put down the award, as he began thinking over the request.

"Izuku, look at me," Ochaco said, making sure his attention was on her. "You haven't gone outside in years. You need to show your face to the public again. Or at least just our investors for now."

Izuku looked at her, his eyes conveying his inner confliction, before eventually sighing and giving in. "I'll do it...for you."

"Thank you." Ochaco leaned in and brought her lips to his.

The kiss didn't last long. But it served its purpose of comforting Izuku, putting him at ease about his decision.

Their lips parted, and Izuku looked down at his smiling wife.

"Don't worry. I'll be with you. Always." Ochaco whispered.

Izuku smiled back at her. "I know."

For that night, Izuku put his troubles aside. And let himself be at ease.

A few weeks later

Izuku breathed deeply, as the limousine brought him to his destination.

On his right was Ochaco and on his left was Chizome, doing his job as his bodyguard and making sure he was safe.

Right now they were heading towards a special compound that they used to test out their technology, and going to show off their E.F.E. gauntlets. Energy focusing enhancement gauntlets.

Truth is, Izuku is a shut-in. Once his company had gained enough money, power, and acclaim, he simply disappeared from the public eye altogether.

The only time the public ever heard of him afterward is when he was being credited for things.

Ochaco had helped him with being in public back in the days when the company was first starting out, and after they had gotten married she had been encouraging him to go outside more and get back into the public light.

These attempts have been mostly fruitless, but today was her first success.

The limo stopped.

"Looks like we're here," Chizome said, opening the door and looking around, before getting out of the way so Izuku could leave.

Izuku got out of the car, blinking rapidly as his eyes tried to adjust to the sun.

The three of them, as well as a few guards, walked into the facility.

"So...what kind of people are the uh...investors?" Izuku asked.

"They're investors. They want money." Chiziome said. "Show them something that can make them money. And you're on their good side."

"Which shouldn't be hard. The E.F.E. gauntlets are some of our most impressive products yet. Pretty much anyone with a quirk that shoots out any sort of energy is gonna want it." Ochaco said. "Nejire, Endeavor, Chargebolt-"

"Ground Zero?" Izuku suggested.

"No." Ochaco and Chiziome said in unison.

"He is permanently banned from receiving any of our gear." Ochaco grit her teeth.

"Now is that because he bullied Izuku when they were kids or is it because he is almost single-handedly responsible for your hero career not taking off?" Chiziome asked.

"Yes!" Ochaco shouted.

Ochaco had tried to be a hero in order to provide for her family. However, after failing the entrance exam and being put in general education, her only chance to get in would have been to impress U.A. at the sports festival.

However luck was never on her side, as for the first two sports festivals, she got put up against Bakugo in the first round. And in the third sports festival, her first round was against Shoto Todoroki.

So as you can imagine she already didn't like Bakugo that much, and when she found out what he did and said to Izuku, she hated him, even more.

"God I hate that prick!" Ochaco exclaimed. "How has Stain not tried to cut HIS head off yet!"

"Ochaco!" Izuku gave her a serious look.

"I'm sorry I'm sorry! That was wrong." Ochaco said, looking ashamed. "I just...I really hate that guy."

Izuku sighed. Bakugo had always been a bit of a sticking point for the two of them. Izuku had always tried to point out the positives of Bakugo, something that got easier as he(Kicking and screaming) matured into a more rational and less aggressive person. (By Bakugo standards)

Ochaco would then often point out the many, many, many, many not so positive qualities. Like his short temper, violent tendencies, past history of bullying(with the main victim being Izuku himself), foul mouth, a large amount of property damage he caused back in his early days, etc.

When the company got big, Ochaco had desperately wanted to expose Bakugo's past to the public, and bring his hero career down.

Izuku managed to talk her out of this, and the two came to a compromise. They would keep quiet about Bakugo's bullying, but he would be banned from obtaining any of their support items.

Ever since then they didn't mention him much. The only time Izuku would ever bring him up is when he tried to convince Ochaco to unban Bakugo. This was always met with stonewall rejection.

After a bit more walking they finally reached the test chamber.

The test chamber was a small viewing box that looked down at a large white room. The only thing separating the rooms was thick glass.

Inside the viewing box was a bunch of old-looking men in suits. The investors.

"Ah, Mr. Midoriya." One of the investors said. "It's a pleasure to see you."

"A pleasure and a surprise." Said another investor. This one is not sounding as happy. "After so long I had thought you would never have come out of your hole."

"I apologize for that." Izuku bowed.

"Enough," Ochaco said to the investors. "You came here to talk about technology. You know, the thing that's making you money. Not my husband's usual lack of presence."

"I agree." Said an impatient investor. "I would rather get this over with quickly."

"Good, now if everyone could direct your attention to the test chamber," Ochaco said.

Inside the test chamber was a man, who was wearing the E.F.E. gauntlet, and three targets.

"Everyone, this man has a quirk called air bullets. He can condense air into pellets and shoot them out of his hand." Ochaco explained. "This quirk has two major issues, however."

Ochaco then lifted up her hand and spoke into her watch. "Sir, please demonstrate your quirk without the gauntlet."

The man lifted the arm without the gauntlet and aimed at the targets.

He shot out a bunch of weak air pellets for his hand, most of which went flying all over the place, and the few that hit the targets didn't do much.

"His pellets are difficult to aim, and are rather weak," Ochaco explained. "However, with the gauntlet. Sir, please demonstrate your quirk while using the gauntlet."

The man raised his other arm and used his quirk again.

This time, rather than a bunch of weak, scattered pellets coming out, instead a single, focused air bullet flew out at the target and destroyed it immediately.

The investors looked impressed.

"Izuku if you wouldn't mind explaining the gauntlet." Ochaco put the focus on him.

"Oh, ah...Well, the gauntlet focuses energy projectiles and condenses it, before focusing it outward. This causes any energy projectiles that are fired from the gauntlet, to become stronger, faster, and more focused." Izuku explained nervously. "Mind you there are some drawbacks. For one this only works for energy-based projectiles and it also doesn't allow for wide attacks. However, the gauntlet can be deactivated, allowing heroes to use their wide attacks again."

"Hmm. Very impressive. I can imagine this will sell quite well." Said one of the investors.

"Agreed." Said another investor. "I-"

Suddenly, everything started to shake.

"What was that?" asked one of the investors.

**BRRRRR! BRRR! Intruder alert! Intruder Alert!  
**

"Intruders?" Chizome went on edge. "Alright everyone get out! We need to-"

And the roof collapsed. And everything went dark.

Sometime later.

"Ahhh." Izuku groaned as he slowly regained consciousness.

He opened his eyes and saw that he was in an unfamiliar room. It was rather plain and dull. As well as being extremely clean.

"Where...where am I?" Izuku asked no one in particular.

He tried to move but found that he wasn't able to. He turned his head and saw he was tied down to a chair.

Izuku's eyes widened, as alarm bells rang in his head.

Before he could act on the panic that was rising within him, the door in front of him opened, and in came what he assumed were his kidnappers. A man with black hair, a large coat, white gloves, and a bird mask, another man with a similar mask as well as a white hood that completely covered his face, and a strange black bird doll.

"Hello, Midoriya Izuku." Said the man in the coat. "Welcome to the Shie Hassaikai."


	2. Chapter 2

"Hello Midoriya Izuku." Said the man in the coat. "Welcome to the Shie Hassaikai."

Izuku's eyes widened. He recognized that name. And what it meant.

"The Yakuza." Izuku gasped. "You're the Yakuza!"

"You know it!" Said the doll.

"Allow us to introduce ourselves, I am Overhaul. The leader." The man in the coat said. "The one in the white is Chronostasis, and the small one is Mimic."

"Wh-what do you want with me?!" Izuku asked, breathing rapidly as fear filled his veins.

"Your brain." Overhaul said. "More specifically your knowledge."

"My...knowledge?" Izuku repeated. That was not the answer he expected. At best he thought that he was being held ransom. And at worst he thought he was going to be assassinated.

"It would be easier to show you." Overhaul said. "Chrono. Untie him."

Chronostasis nodded and walked behind Izuku and started untying the restraints.

"Don't do anything stupid," Chronostasis said as he finished freeing him.

Izuku got the message and stayed as still as possible, showing no resistance whatsoever.

"Follow us." Overhaul commanded as he started walking out of the room.

Chronostasis nudged him, making Izuku stumble forward and start following Overhaul.

The Yakuza base was cramped and dreary. With Yakuza members trudging through the long, grey, narrow hallways, avoiding eye contact with all of them.

Izuku nervously walked with the three villains, wondering what exactly they could want with him.

 _Maybe they have someone with an intelligence stealing quirk! Maybe they want my support gear designs! Or maybe_ Izuku went from thinking to muttering without noticing.

"Shut up!" Mimic shouted. "Quit your yapping! We're already here!"

Izuku looked up and saw a door with two Yakuza guarding the door.

The guards stepped aside as Overhaul walked towards them, before opening the door and revealing what's inside.

It was a lab. A quite up to date one in fact. Filled with all the chemicals and equipment that he would put in one of his company's labs.

It was also very, very clean. Like not a spec of dirt had inhabited this lab since it was created.

The only thing that seemed out of place was the mattress in the corner.

Only one person was inside the lab, was another man in a bird mask. This one looked like a plague doctor.

"This will be where you'll be staying." Overhaul said. "You see, the Yakuza has had problems reestablishing itself in today's society. You're going to help us in our rise to power."

Chronostasis took out one of Midoriya's support items. The Bracer boots.

Izuku's eyes widened. "How did you get that?!"

"We bought it. An entire shipment of it." Overhaul explained. "After all, we are one of your company's distributors after all."

"WHAT!?" Izuku was horrified by what he was hearing. "That's impossible! Neither me or Ochaco have ever agreed to dealing with the Yakuza!"

"Yes but you and your lovely wife aren't keeping track of every crate of gear you create. And some members of your company know that and decided to make a little extra money." Overhaul said. "They ship out your gear to black-market distributors and let them sell it directly to the villains."

Izuku's mouth was hanging open in shock. _M-my tech...is in the hands of villains!_

He had spent most of his life, trying to make the gear to help the heroes that help people. Years of him researching and testing, all the sake of others. And now he was being told his tech was in the hands of those who would use it to hurt others!

 _No...No! I can't let this happen! I have to do something!_ Then Izuku remembered where he was. _Damn it! But I can't do it from here! I'll...have to wait for the heroes to rescue me._

Something about that thought...pained Izuku. The feeling of being saved. Of being helpless. It brought him back to when he was in middle school. Being tossed around and laughed at.

He remembered being Deku.

"Hey! Are you paying attention!" Mimic shouted, bringing Izuku out of his thoughts.

"S-sorry." Izuku stuttered.

"As I was saying." Overhaul gave Izuku an annoyed glare that made his skin crawl. "We've decided to skip the middleman and get the technology straight from the source itself."

"From now on you'll be making gear for us to sell," Cronostais said. "As well as personal gear for us exclusively."

Izuku grit his teeth. _Damn it! I don't know how long the heroes are going to take so I might actually have to make something for these guys!... Maybe I can stall long enough to-  
_

"That however, will not be your main priority." Overhaul said. "No, we have something much more important for you to work on."

Overhaul took a small object out of his pocket and brought it up to Izuku's face.

The C.E.O.'s face widened, as he immediately recognized what it was.

"A quirk erasing bullet," Izuku whispered.

These were infamous amongst hero society, with several heroes having gotten shot by these things and temporarily losing their quirks.

For the most part they were a rare annoyance, as the heroes would always regain their quirks sometime after. However a couple of heroes had lost their lives because of these bullets.

Izuku had been given some samples of the bullets to see if he could track the technology or find out more about it.

While Izuku didn't find out much more than they already knew about the bullets. Other than one disturbing fact. The base chemical of the bullet. Was not a chemical at all, but human blood.

"Are you...are the Yakuza the ones producing these?" Izuku asked. No one had been able to track down the ones producing the bullets. The distribution system was too complex. And the thugs they captured were too terrified to talk.

"That's right." Overhaul said. "These are what is going to bring the Yakuza back to its former glory. Up until now we've been unable to make the effects permanent."

"And so that's what you want me to do." Izuku interrupted him. "You want me to make the bullet's effect permanent."

"And we want you to make a cure for the bullet as well." Overhaul said, deciding to ignore the fact that he was interrupted. "We'll sell the bullets to the villains, and the cure to the heroes. Our power and influence will grow. And the Yakuza will return to their rightful place, as the rulers of Japan."

Izuku looked at the bullet. What Izuku could do what Overhaul wanted him to do, then the Yakuza would in fact become the most influential crime lords in the country. Beating even the League of Villains in their prime.

And that was something he could not allow.

 _If I say no. They'll kill me._ Izuku said in his head, weighing his options. _Or worse. And if I don't make any progress after a long period of time, then they'll realize I won't cooperate, and then they'll kill me. My only option is to stall long enough for the heroes to come and rescue me._

"Well, I don't have any other option," Izuku said through clenched teeth.

"Do you really intend to do this?" Asked the plague doctor looking, man.

"Yes." Izuku felt the answer force its way out of his mouth. "What was that?"

"Do you have any intention of trying to escape?" The man asked.

"No." Again the answer was forced from him. "Is that your quirk?"

"That's none of your business!" Mimic said. "From now on, your life extends to the inside of this lab!"

"You'll start immediately." Overhaul said. "Bring her in."

"Her?" Izuku questioned.

Izuku heard footsteps from behind Overhaul. He moved his head to see who was approaching.

And his heart stopped.

Standing there, escorted by one the Yakuza goons, was a little girl.

Immediately a million thoughts ran through his mind. Why is there a little girl here? Is she a hostage? One of the Yakuza's kids? A kidnap victim?

 _Wait._ Izuku thought. _What does this have to do with the bullets...oh no._

"This is Eri." Overhaul said. "Her blood is the main component of the bullet."

Cold dread ran through Izuku's veins. His worst fear was confirmed.

He took another look at the little girl, and she flinched just from his glance. She was obviously terrified.

He looked back at Overhaul, with a look of shock and disgust. "You want me...to take the blood out of a little girl?"

"Yes. Is there a problem with that?" Overhaul leaned over him intimidatingly

But to the surprise of everyone, Izuku didn't shrink back in terror. Instead keeping his disgusted gaze on the crime lord.

Izuku had no idea where this courage came from. He certainly felt absolutely terrified but somehow it seemed like Eri's presence had given him strength he didn't know he had.

Overhaul was tempted to give Izuku a show of force. But decided on something else.

"Either you take her blood. Or I will." Overhaul threatened.

That made Izuku step back. He looked over at Eri, who was starting to tremble in fear.

His options were limited. But he needed to do something about this. Needed to take control of the situation. At least a little.

Izuku glared at Overhaul. "I have some demands."

Overhaul raised his eyebrow. "You're not in a position to make demands."

"Except I am." Izuku pulled together all the courage he had. "You have plans. Big plans. Plans that I am essential to. If I don't work for you, then your dream of reestablishing the Yakuza dies here. Sure you could torture me. But all the time you spend doing that is time I could be working. And you don't seem like the type to waste time."

"Know your place you little-!" Mimic started walking towards him angrily, before Overhaul gave him a look, signaling to stop.

"Listening to my demands will be easier for everyone in the end." Izuku finished.

Overhaul glared at him for a while. As if waiting for Izuku to wither under his glare.

"We will listen." Overhaul conceded.

"First. I want her here." Izuku said. "In this room, under my supervision. I don't want your thugs touching her."

Overhaul's glare never faltered. "You don't want that. You don't know what kind of monster that girl is."

Eri held her head down with shame, as Overhaul degraded her once more.

"If her quirk goes off. And you touch her." Overhaul took off one of his gloves and touched one of the beakers, destroying it immediately. "Just like her father."

Izuku looked past Overhaul and right at Eri. Giving the poor girl a pitying look, before turning back to Overhaul and continuing to glare.

"As far as I'm concerned, me and her are the only people in this room who aren't monsters," Izuku said.

The tension in the room was palpable. But Izuku refused to lose his nerve now. He couldn't do much for this girl. But he could at least try and get her away from them.

"Fine. I'll leave you a tranq gun in case her quirk goes out of control." Overhaul said. "Anything else?"

"I don't want anyone touching anything in my lab," Izuku said. "No one touches the vials, the chemicals, the tech, Eri, nothing!"

"Fine." Overhaul said. He didn't want his goons touching things in here anyway. They would probably kill themselves or something. "Is that all?"

Izuku thought for a moment. He'd already pushed his luck enough. This was probably the best he was going to get for now.

"That's it," Izuku said.

"Good. Now get to work." Overhaul turned to his men. "Bring Eri's things."

"Boss!? Are you really gonna give into this chump!?" Mimic shouted.

"We're just changing which room Eri's in. At the end of the day. Nothing has changed." Overhaul said.

With those last words, Overhaul and his followers walked out of the room. Closing the door behind him and leaving him alone with Eri.

The two of them looked at each other for a while, Eri giving him a curious, yet fearful expression, and Izuku giving her a sad, apologetic expression.

Izuku breathed in deep. "H-Hello. I-I'm Izuku Midoriya. Nice to meet you."

Eri didn't respond.

"I...I'm not here to hurt you," Izuku said.

"Y-you want to take my blood." Eri pointed out.

"No," Izuku said. "I don't want to. They're making me. If I had a choice then I would never even consider doing this to you."

This seemed to make Eri ease up slightly. Very slightly.

"Are you...are you going to take me apart?" Eri asked him.

Izuku's expression shifted to confusion. "Take you apart?"

"Like the glass," Eri said, pointing to the beaker.

Izuku was very befuddled. _Didn't Overhaul destroy that with his quirk? How is it still here...unless. Maybe his quirk lets him take things apart on a molecular level and then put them back together. Is Eri saying he's been doing that to her!? But that would mean in the brief time she was destroyed she would be..._

The mere thought of what Eri was implying made Izuku want to vomit. Izuku has known Overhaul for less than three hours and he has already rocketed to the top of the rather short list of people he hates.

"No!" Izuku said firmly. "No. No. I won't do that. I will never do that. So long as I'm here, you'll never have to go through that again."

Eri's eyes widened. Shining with hope for a moment. Then, as if she was afraid to feel hopeful, she sunk back into the feeling of terror.

"I know you don't want to do this. Neither do I." Izuku said. "But if I don't take your blood. Then they might hurt you again. So please, just go along with me."

After a few moments, Eri gave a hesitant nod.

Izuku breathed in deep.

As he walked Eri to the chair and then pulled out the equipment, he wondered if he was really going to do this. If he was going to do something so...so wrong.

As Izuku administered the anesthesia, Eri started getting confused, and panicked.

"W-why am I sleepy?" Eri asked as she desperately tried to stay awake. Scared of what would happen if she let herself drift off.

"It's ok. It's ok." Izuku calmed her. "I'm just putting you to sleep so you're not in pain during the process. I promise. I'm not going to hurt you."

Eri looked into Izuku's eyes. She didn't see the usual annoyance that she saw in the Yakuza goons, or the indifference from the eight precepts, or the disgust from Overhaul.

Instead she saw sadness, protectiveness, and honesty. It seemed like this man truly did not want to hurt her. That unlike everyone else, his words and promises were not empty.

Eri closed her eyes, placing her hope and trust in Izuku for the moment, before falling into a deep sleep.

Sometime later.

Eri groggily opened her eyes.

She felt weak. Weaker than usual. And dizzy. Her head hurt too. These feelings were familiar to her, as this is what she typically felt like after getting her blood drained.

She quickly looked around and was surprised to see she wasn't on the chair, but rather in her bed. Whenever she had passed out during the blood drawing before, Overhaul would typically wake her up immediately and then force her to walk back after he was done.

She was still in the same room, it just looked like her bed had been moved here along with some of her things, and she could see Izuku working on something closeby.

This was...confusing. Was the blood draining done already? She felt like she did after her blood was drained, but where was the pain? The needles, the pumps?

She looked at Izuku, wondering if he truly didn't want to hurt her. If she could trust him. She felt like she could, but at the same time, she was scared. What if she was wrong? What if he was tricking her? Overhaul would sometimes try to have some of his goons get along with her. Try and befriend her.

But Izuku seemed different. Not only did he seem very real and genuine, unlike those Yakuza goons, but he also didn't seem to like Overhaul.

Eri's head hurt from thinking too much.

Eri didn't want to bring attention to herself. So she just silently watched Izuku work for a little while, before-

**MRRRRRR**

Her stomach growled.

Izuku turned his head to look at Eri, finally noticing that she was awake and sitting up.

"Eri!" He quickly walked over to her, dragging a table with wheels on it with him. "You shouldn't be sitting up so quickly!"

"I-I'm sorry!" Eri said fearfully.

Eri was going to lie back down, but before she could Izuku went over to her and moved her pillow up.

Izuku placed his hand on her chest, and moved her towards the pillow, letting her lay back against it.

Izuku hands...they felt so...kind. They weren't cold and forceful like Overhaul and his goons. He didn't push her as they would have. Rather his hands were warm, and gentle. Trying to guide Eri towards the pillow.

"How do you feel?" Izuku asked her.

"I...I'm ok." Eri lied. She had to lie. Overhaul hated when she complained. He would punish her if she said that she felt sick or was in pain. He said it's what a monster like her deserved.

"Eri. You just lost a lot of blood." Izuku said sternly. "You are definitely not ok. I need to make sure nothing went wrong and if something did go wrong I have to find out what it is so I can make it better. So please tell me the truth."

Eri sunk back into the pillow. "I..My head hurts. And I feel dizzy and weak, and hungry."

Izuku nodded. "Ok. That's normal. You should be fine after a while. But first let's take care of that hunger."

Izuku moved the table towards her. On top of it was a plate of beans. They were cheap and kinda gross looking, but Eri was used to it by now.

Eri gave him a hesitant look, and Izuku nodded, conveying to her it was ok to eat it.

Her hand shakily moved towards the spoon. As she picked it up her hand shook a lot.

Izuku frowned as he saw Eri struggle.

He grabbed the spoon from Eri's hand, and a jolt of fear ran through her. Had she done something wrong? Was she not going to be allowed to eat anymore?

Izuku gathered the mushy beans in the spoon, before holding it up to Eri's face. "Open wide."

Eri blinked, confused by the action but decided to go along with it.

She opened her mouth, and Izuku fed the beans to her.

For the next few minutes Izuku silently fed her.

This situation felt...familiar to her. If she thought hard enough and pushed past the headaches, she could barely remember someone doing this to her before. She thinks it's her father. She can't even really remember him at this point.

Without even realizing it, tears start dripping from Eri's eyes.

This alarmed Izuku who immediately stopped what he was doing. "Is something wrong?! Are you ok!?"

"Why...why are you being so kind to me?" Eri asked him. "I'm a...I'm a monster. I'm cursed!"

Eri continued crying. "I-I-"

She was promptly silenced when Izuku's arms wrapped around her. Embracing her in a firm yet gentle embrace.

"You're not a monster," Izuku told her. "The people who told you that you were. The people who hurt you. Those are the real monsters."

"But I...my curse." Eri cried.

"Your quirk." Izuku corrected. "No one can control what quirk they get, and no one is at fault for not knowing how to use it."

These kind words, this gentle embrace. It was more affection than Eri had ever remembered receiving in her life. For almost as long she could remember she was surrounded by people who hated her, and called her a monster. People who hurt her and told her it was her fault for existing.

But Izuku wasn't like that. In the short time, she had known him he had shown her care, compassion, affection. He didn't think she was a monster.

She wrapped her arms around his waist, and cried in his torso.

Izuku gently pets the back of her head. Letting her unload her pain onto him.

At that moment Izuku made a promise to himself. That no matter what happened. He would protect this girl. Even if it cost him his life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Eri in this fic is the same age as she is in Canon. Even though everyone else is older.


	3. Chapter 3

Overhaul strut into the lab with Shin by his side, and was displeased to find that Izuku was in the process of feeding Eri.

"If I wanted a babysitter I wouldn't have gone through the trouble of kidnapping one of the world's greatest scientists." Overhaul said in a very annoyed tone.

Eri immediately clung to Izuku, and the C.E.O. turned his head to meet the villains.

"It's been a month." Overhaul walking up to Izuku in an imposing fashion. "And you've yet to produce any results."

"Progress takes time," Izuku said. "As the people who produced this bullet, you should understand this. I may be smart but I'm not magic. I can't produce groundbreaking progress in only a month. And since I've been focusing on this I haven't had much time to work on support gear."

Overhaul turned to Shin and nodded, signaling him to use his quirk.

"Are you stalling?" Shin asked.

"Not really," Izuku responded. "I already know how to improve the bullet but you guys haven't given me the means to do it."

Overhaul glared at him. "How? We've given you all the chemicals and components you could possibly need. And we send someone in here to ask if you need supplies once a week."

"But supplies I ask for never come." Izuku pointed out.

"That's because the supplies you ask for are things like orange juice, vitamins, and things that have nothing to do with your task." Overhaul glared at him.

"But they do have to do with my task." Izuku corrected him. "Have you heard of the hero Grape Juice."

"Who hasn't?" Overhaul said. Everyone knew about Grape Juice. He became famous after his heroic death, taking the infamous Gigantomachia with him to the grave.

"Are you aware of how his health affected his quirk?" Izuku asked. "The healthier he was, the more effective his quirk. This can also be said about many other people's quirks. For Eri however, this is only somewhat the case. While Eri's quirk, in itself, is not affected by her health. Her quirk affected blood is. Due to the poor condition, Eri is in both physically and mentally, the blood we're getting from her is of poor quality. The food you give her is cheap and bland and you don't even give us enough of it. She hasn't seen the sun in years. She's been constantly getting her blood drained from her. And she's stuck in a facility with people who hate her and has been getting physically and mentally tormented for years."

Overhaul looked at him for a moment. "So what you're saying is if Eri's in better health, the bullet's effects will last longer."

"Yes," Izuku responded.

Overhaul turned to Shin.

"Are you speaking the truth?" Shin asked.

"Yes," Izuku said.

"Tch. Fine. Tell me what you need then." Overhaul said.

"Since I know you won't let her outside, I'll need a lot of orange juice to make up for all the vitamin D she's missing." Izuku started spouting out necessities. "I'll also need vitamins to make up for all the other nutrients she is missing. Also, I'll need more healthy foods. Not that cheap stuff you feed us either but some actually tolerable food. I'll also need some books to stimulate her mentally-"

"She can't read." Overhaul interrupted her.

"I'll teach her," Izuku responded. "We'll also need way more food than you're giving us. Part of the reason my work has been slow is because I've barely been eating."

"We've been giving, YOU, enough food so why is it you're the one hungry?" Overhaul asked.

"You give me the bare minimum. And you give Eri even less. So when I give her my food, there's not enough food for me leftover." Izuku explained. "You know what, it would be better if you just supplied us with food every month and we'll ration it out from there."

"There's no refrigerator or stove down here." Overhaul pointed out.

"I'll make one," Izuku said. "I'll also need you and your men to visit as little as possible. A person's health state can affect their physical health, and as you can see her mental health is not exactly the greatest, in no small part because of you. So the best way for her to recover would be as little exposure to you and your men as possible."

"Fine. I didn't intend to storm into here every month anyway. I'll be sending an inspector every month to make sure you're not up to anything, and someone to give you food and supplies every month." Overhaul said.

"Is that all?" Izuku asked.

"Yes. Now get back to work." Overhaul said as he and Shin walked out of the room.

Izuku breathed a sigh of relief. _It looks like it worked._

Ever since Izuku was a child he'd always analyze quirks. Writing down details and theories in his notebook. At first, he intended to use these notes to help him become a hero, but when that dream was dashed, he repurposed them to help him in his support gear construction.

He'd been analyzing quirks for years. Which meant he knew exactly how many different types of quirks work. Even if he's never seen them before.

Shin's quirk was in the rare category of what Izuku called, truth quirks. Quirks that forced someone, to tell the truth, or prevented them from lying. And while it was rare, it was not entirely unique. He's seen quirks like it before and as such has figured out how it functions.

For example. How does a truth quirk define and figure out what the truth is? It's not like the quirk fact checks with some omnipresent being, so it's not like the quirk itself knows the truth. The answer, it' reads the victim's mind. It checks the person's mind for what they think the truth is. The keyword being, what they think is the truth.

What someone thinks the truth is, and the truth itself is, can be completely different. And a truth quirk would never know.

To simplify, if an innocent person mistakenly thought that they had killed someone, then the truth quirk would make it look like they really did kill someone. A truth quirk simply prevents someone from lying, it does not reveal the truth.

And what someone thinks is the truth can be manipulated. Some people with mental quirks, or just significant mental training, someone could trick themselves into thinking a false truth.

And while Izuku didn't have nearly the mental fortitude or training to pull something like that off, he could do something much simpler.

Wordplay.

You see, words were a funny thing in that they don't have any inherent meaning or purpose. If humans decided tomorrow that red should be called blue and vice versa, then that would be the case. And as such many words could carry multiple meanings and could be interpreted in different ways as well.

That's why when Izuku said that he wasn't stalling. He wasn't technically lying. If in his head Izuku defined stalling as deliberately not doing his work in favor of doing nothing. Instead, he was prioritizing other things and allowing things to impede his progress. While most people would define that as stalling if Izuku could convince himself that it wasn't then he could basically lie to Shin despite his quirk.

This method was only so effective however, if Shin started asking him specific questions or asked for details then he could probably figure out that something was up. Which is why Izuku had to make sure his answers were formulated in a non-suspicious way and that he had reasonable excuses for his actions.

The part of Shin's quirk that was unique, was the fact that his quirk forced you to tell the truth. Normally truth quirks just let people spot lies or keep people from lying, but Shin's quirk forced you to say whatever secrets you're hiding. It's an extremely powerful quirk that was hard to counter.

After theorizing about how this quirk worked. Izuku came to the conclusion that this worked like an internet search. The quirk searches your brain for an answer to whatever question Shin asked, and then forces you to say it out loud.

The best way to counter this was to think of what Shin is going to ask you beforehand, come up with an answer that wasn't a lie, answered Shin's question, but also didn't give away too much.

Izuku sighed. Dealing with Shin's quirk would be a massive obstacle in his endeavors. His only saving grace is that apparently, he wasn't around all that often. His quirk was so useful that Overhaul always had him doing work outside the base.

**GROWL**

Izuku grimaced. He hadn't been exaggerating when he said he wasn't eating much. Almost all of the food was going to Eri, with Izuku only ever eating a few spoonfuls at most.

He shook his head. He couldn't think about it. If he thought about how hungry he was then that would just make it worse. He needed to get back to feeding Eri, who was looking at him with concerned eyes.

"I'm fine Eri. Let's go back to eating." Izuku tried to comfort her, forcing a smile on his face.

Izuku sat down and was about to pick the spoon when Eri snatched it up instead.

She determinedly scooped up some of the food and held it up to Izuku. "Eat."

Izuku was taken aback. In the month he and Eri had been here she was always either meekly clinging to him or watching him work from her bed. Whenever she got concerned about him she would usually just look at him with sad eyes, so it was a bit surprising to see her do something like this.

After getting over his slight shock, Izuku smiled, this time more genuinely. "I'll be fine Eri. I'm an adult I'll live. You're still young, and you keep having your blood drained from you. You need to eat a lot."

Eri shook her head definitely. "I-I'm full! Please eat!"

Izuku wiped a tear from his eye. He had never seen her so determined before. He was so touched that she cared about him so much.

Although it probably shouldn't have been surprising. After Izuku got close to her he learned that she was starving for affection. Every time he so much as patted her on the head or gave a simple work of praise, she would look like you just told her they were going to an amusement park. She would always do her best to help him, sometimes handing him tools or vials, trying her best to earn his praise and affection.

It was cute. But also horribly sad. It made Izuku wonder about Eri's origins. He'd figured out that her quirk awakening had accidentally caused her father's death. But what about her mother? Izuku had asked her about it, but whenever he did she would get really upset, so he didn't push it.

**GROWL**

Izuku held his stomach. "I guess a few bites won't hurt."

A little over a month later.

After all the supplies came in, life in the lab became much less miserable.

Eri had gotten slightly more energetic now that she had some more nutrients and wasn't getting the blood drained from her as often.

Izuku was no longer left wanting for food, now that they were being supplied with an abundant amount of food every month, to be stored in their fridge and cooked with their stove.

Now of all times Izuku was glad that Ochaco insisted they both do the cooking themselves, rather than getting professional chefs to do it all the time.

Izuku hadn't shown much of his progress on the bullet, stating that he needed to wait until Eri was fully healthy before continuing with the blood experiments.

Overall, things have been going relatively well all things considered.

However. As Izuku waited for the heroes to arrive, he felt this...itch. Not a physical one of course but more like a mental one. It felt like he was doing something wrong, and it frustrated him more and more the longer he waited.

But what else could he do?

Izuku asked himself that question in his head as he put together a protective chest armor. He did have to produce some results otherwise they might just kill him, so he was making some support gear.

"Eri could you pass me the screwdriver." He said.

Eri nodded immediately, before running over to the other table. She stepped on a box to reach the tabletop and grabbed the screwdriver.

When she handed it to Izuku he looked down at it and frowned.

Eri's became worried when she saw this. "Di-did I do something bad?"

"No, no it's my fault," Izuku said, putting down the tool. "I should have been more specific, I needed the other type of screwdriver."

"I'm sorry." Eri still felt like she was at fault, despite her lack of knowledge.

"Eri's it's not your fault I-" Izuku was cut off when the door to the lab suddenly opened.

"Hey, are you Midoriya Izuku!" Said a person in a hero costume.

Izuku's face lit up. They were finally here!

"Y-yes that's me!" Izuku responded quickly.

"Well hurry up we're getting you out of here! Grab the kid, come on!" The hero said, moving out of the way.

Izuku immediately scooped Eri up in his arms and ran for the door.

He ran past the door, and towards freedom.

Or so he thought.

He barely made it a foot past the door, before the hero grabbed him by the back of his collar, and threw him back into the room.

Izuku fell onto his back, Eri spilling out of his arms and onto the floor.

"Wha-gah!" The "hero" snickered as he put his foot on Izuku's back.

Izuku looked up and saw a sinister grin on the "hero's" face.

And then Overhaul stepped in.

"Midoriya I don't believe you've met our friend here. This is Fuhai, one of the heroes on our payroll." Overhaul explained. "In fact, almost all the local heroes are on our payroll."

The paid-off hero kicked Izuku in the ribs. "AHHH!"

"Not that I need to get paid to not save your ass!" The fake hero said. "You blacklisted me from getting support gear!"

"Wait." Izuku realized something. "I recognize you! You're that hero who rushed in to fight a villain even while he was holding civilians hostage! Two people died because of yo-ahhh!"

"I didn't even need to pay him this time. All I had to do was offer him the chance to put you in your place." Overhaul glared at him. "Perhaps next time you'll speak to me with more respect. You're free to beat him now Fuhai. Just don't touch the girl."

Overhaul left and Fuhai smirked, before picking Izuku up by his hair. "Gladly."

Fuhai punched Izuku in the face, before giving him another blow to the gut.

"No! Don't hurt him!" Eri ran over to Fuhai and started pulling on his pant sleeve.

Fuhai wanted to kick the girl off him, but Overhaul warned him against hurting her and he did NOT want to cross him. So instead he just kept beating up Izuku.

Blow after blow, after blow.

Ten minutes later, Fuhai slowed his assault and looked at his work.

Izuku was beaten and bruised, his face was swollen and blood dripped from his mouth and nose.

Satisfied, he dropped Izuku to the floor.

Eri, who's eyes were swollen, red and filled with tears, clutched Izuku. Relenting her uselessness.

Izuku struggled, moving his arm to pet Eri's head in an attempt to comfort her.

Fuhai spat on the back of Izuku's head. "Heh. Not so high and mighty now huh? Hope you like it here jackass because they're aren't any heroes to come and save you."

And with that, the false hero left slamming the door behind him.

Leaving Izuku to think about his parting words.

Later that night.

Izuku laid down in his bed, Eri clinging tightly to his side.

Overhaul and sent some medics to patch up Izuku after Fuhai left. Only because Overhaul didn't want him to use his injuries as an excuse to slow down his work.

 _Overhaul bought off most of the heroes in the area._ Izuku thought. _There's a chance that there might not be any heroes to save us._

Izuku's heart tightened, and his fist clenched.

He looked down at Eri. She deserved so much. She deserved to be with a loving family, have warm delicious food, and to be outside and happy.

She deserved so much better than to be locked in here. He wanted to give her so much.

And then, he had an epiphany. It felt like that itch had finally been scratched.

 _If the heroes aren't going to save us. Then I'll just have to do it myself._ Izuku finally thought. _For her sake._

It was going to be dangerous. And he would have to be much more careful in his half-truths and lies.

He would also need something that could both protect him and Eri, while also taking out the Yakuza.

He looked around the lab, and his eyes landed on the chest armor.

Armor.

He needed armor. High tech armor that was capable of taking attacks and that was stocked with weapons! And a few quirk erasing bullets too!

He already had designs in his head, but there was one problem. In order to power something with enough defensive and offensive power to break out of here, he would need a power source that was both extremely potent and small enough to fit in the armor.

Izuku started coming up with ideas rapidly, trying to see what he could use.

And then his mind wandered to an old idea of his. One that he deemed would take too much time to research and produce.

The arc reactor.

Well if the heroes weren't coming then he had plenty of time.

He grabbed his notebook and started sketching. Rapidly moving his pencil around as he brought everything together.

When he was done, he looked at his work. A suit of armor, with the arc reactor at its core.

He smiled widely at the design. Perhaps his long-standing love of heroes had influenced the design, but it didn't just look like a suit of armor. It looked like a hero. A hero that would liberate them both from this horrible place, and bring joy back into their lives and smiles on their faces.

And a hero needed a heroic name.

As such, the Iron Man project was born.


	4. Chapter 4

Izuku felt like a new man. It was like he was constantly hyped up on adrenaline as he worked feverishly on the designs of his armor. His brain was working on overdrive and he felt even smarter than he did normally.

He'd never built a full armor suit before, but Mei had developed a few.

Mei Hatsumi had been a long time friend of his. Having worked with him since their early days in U.A.

With them being the two smartest students, they had done great work together.

She and Ocahco never really got along though. Even less so when they graduated from U.A.

Mei had a difficult time adjusting to no longer being financially backed by the school anymore, and her constantly blowing up their equipment, their expensive equipment, annoyed Ochaco to no end. Had it not been for Ochaco's excellent control over their finances then Midoriya Industries would have never got off the ground.

Even after the company became successful Ochaco still disliked her. Izuku decided it was a good idea to keep the two away from each other and Izuku would talk to Mei himself.

It was only until after they got married did Izuku realize why Ochaco hated the idea of him going to meet an attractive female by himself, away from her.

Izuku smiled at his past stupidity.

The arc reactor was the most important part and would likely take the longest. As such he would like to focus on that first.

However, he still needed to produce results with both the quirk erasing bullets and the other support equipment.

So he would work on the armor and when he finished, he would make weaker, single pieces of the armor and give them to Overhaul, while he worked on the arc reactor and the quirk erasing bullets.

It was a more chaotic schedule then he would have liked, but it was all he could do.

"Alright, the blueprints should be finished," Izuku muttered to himself.

The blueprints for the armor was separated into different parts, so as to not elect suspicion.

"Ok, so I'll start on the arc reactor for an hour then move on to the helmet," Izuku muttered. "Eri! It's time to get to work!"

The young girl nodded and gave him her adorably determined look.

Izuku ruffled the hair of his tiny assistant as the two started on their day.

Three months later

**BOOM!**

"Darn it!" Izuku shouted, hitting the blast shield in frustration.

Eri brought him a drink to help cool him off. Both literally and metaphorically.

The arc reactor was proving to be troublesome. After two months of working he had finally gotten the thing to turn on and the energy to flow.

The issue was, finding a way to contain such potent energy in such a small object, was proving to be a rather daunting task.

In other news, he had made progress on the helmet and gauntlets, but he wouldn't be able to really finish any of the armor.

He did make a lot of progress on the quirk erasing bullets. In fact, he would probably finish making the permanent version in a few months.

Of course, he still had to give something to Overhaul so he just made a slightly improved version of his bracer boots and handed it off to him.

Izuku sipped his drink when suddenly he heard the door opened.

It was two of Overhaul's goons with a crate.

"We're here to give ya the food." Said one of the goons.

"Come in, and don't touch anything," Izuku told them.

"Got it." The goon said.

The goon then looked at the two goons guarding the doors. The guards nodded their heads, and the goon nodded his head back and then walked into the room, closing the door behind him.

Izuku noticed the odd behavior, and immediately took a stand in front of Eri. "What's going on?"

"You wanna get out of here right?" The goon said in a hushed tone as he unpacked the food.

Izuku's eyes widened. "What are you talking about?"

"Keep it down." The other goon said. "If we want to pull this off then we'll need to make sure Overwhore doesn't hear a word of what we're saying."

"Language! And pull what off?" Izuku said in a hushed tone.

"Destroying Overhaul and the Yakuza." The goon said.

"...What?" Izuku had to try not to shout out in shock. This had to be a trick of some kind.

"You idiot now you got em confused." The other goon scolded. "Let me explain. When he signed up for the Yakuza, we thought we were joining a criminal group with class. With respect. With honor. And back when the boss was in charge, it was like that. He knew what it meant to be a Yakuza. A real Yakuza. Then Overhaul put em into a coma, and forced everyone to follow em, or else he'd kill em with his quirk. He filled the Yakuza with trash and rejects! He started crossing lines the boss said not to cross. He took a villain's name! And worst of all, he started mistreating the boss's grandkid!"

Izuku's eyes widened. _Eri is the granddaughter of the former Yakuza boss? No, I have to stay focused. If what he's saying is true then I may be able to use it to my advantage._

"But why destroy it, wouldn't you rather just kill Overhaul and take back control?" Izuku asked.

"Naw. If we take out Overhaul and all the goons loyal to em, then we'll be too weak. Our enemies will take us out in a heartbeat." Goon 2 said.

"And screw that! If the Yakuza's going out, then we're going out on our own accord!" Goon 1 said.

 _So it looks like there are two groups. People who are loyal to Overhaul and people who want him dead. Let's call them, the loyalist and the extremest._ Izuku thought.

"How many of you are there compared to the ones loyal to Overhaul?" Izuku asked.

"We got bigger numbers, but Overhaul's guys are way stronger." Goon 2 scowled. "We'd never stand a chance if we tried to fight back on our own...but with those bullets-"

"You'd be able to take away their advantage." Izuku finished. "So you want me to make the bullets and then help you and your allies take out Overhaul and his minions."

"I knew you were smart." Goon 1 smirked.

"Ok, if I do this, what happens to me and Eri?" Izuku asked.

"What'd Ya think happens. You take the girl and get outta here." Goon 2 said.

Izuku nodded. _This could make my escape a lot easier…but still._

"If I help you...you'll kill Overhaul right?" Izuku asked.

"Duh! That jerks gonna get what's coming to em!" Goon 1 said.

Izuku frowned. _I don't like the idea of killing someone, indirectly or not. But I'll need to erase Overhaul's quirk if I want to get out of here. And even if I refuse them and try to escape on my own, they'll probably take advantage of it and kill Overhaul anyway._

No matter what he did, if he escaped, Overhaul would die.

But, considering everything Overhaul's done.

 _...I can live with that._ Izuku decided. _If it's him or Eri, I'd choose Eri to save in heartbeat._

"Ok, I'm in," Izuku said.

"Alright! Knew you'd say that!" Goon 1 celebrated.

"But, I'm in charge. I was already planning on escaping so I have a plan in mind." Izuku explained. "You and your friends do as I say, and Overhaul won't know what hit him."

"Sounds good to me." Goon 2 said. "What's the plan boss?"

Two months later.

Izuku looked at the inactive arc reactor behind the blast shielding.

"Come on, please work." Izuku prayed under his breath.

Izuku pushed the button, and the energy started flowing.

The arc reactor lit up, getting bright and bright.

Izuku looked at some screens next to him. "Come on...come on."

The energy kept glowing brighter, as more power was growing inside the reactor.

"And, now!" Izuku said before pushing another button.

The machine died down, but the reactor kept glowing brighter.

"Stabilize, stabilize, stabilize," Izuku begged.

The light became even brighter. Illuminating the entire lab and forcing Izuku to look away.

Then, there was a flash of light! Before the light died down.

Izuku looked back at the reactor.

"I-I did it!" Izuku celebrated. "I DID IT!"

The arc reactor was now glowing bright with energy and was perfectly intact. Finally, after all this time, he had done it. The most crucial part of his plan was finished, now he could work on everything else.

"Izuku?" All Izuku's celebrating had woken up Eri, who was sleeping soundly on the bed beforehand. "Did the arc reactor finally work?"

"Oh, Eri did I wake you up? I'm sorry...and yes! It worked!" Izuku said with a bright smiling on his face.

"Oh. That's good." Eri didn't really understand what that meant, but Izuku was happy and that was all that mattered to her.

Izuku went over to the arc reactor and held it up with pride.

This was the start! The time for escape would be nigh!

"Let's go back to sleep Eri," Izuku said. "I think I'll have good dreams tonight!"

Two months later.

Izuku looked at his finished formula. With this, his work on the quirk erasing bullet would be complete.

Of course, he couldn't give this to Overhaul, he would give him a version that lasted longer than the previous version, but he would never give him the permanent one.

Izuku had made rapid progress after the completion of his arc reactor. Having finished his helmet, and his chest plate would be done in a week or so.

"Alright, let's see how the arc reactor reacts to the gauntlet," Izuku said.

The genius hooked up the reactor to one of his prototype gauntlets.

The gauntlet lit up with a pleasing hum, working as Izuku expected.

"Ok, everything seems to be working fine. Let's try the flashlight." Izuku had installed a flashlight in the palm of the gauntlet, just in case he had to fight in the dark and the night vision feature in his helmet didn't work for whatever reason.

Izuku flexed his wrist to turn on the flashlight and-

**FWOOM  
**

He was knocked back, as a blast of arc reactor energy shot out of palm, hitting the wall and making a burnt crack.

Izuku sat up, dazed from the knockback, and the fall. Eri had run over to make sure he was ok and helped him off the floor.

 _I must have used way too much power._ Izuku thought to himself as he got up off the floor. _I'm going to have to lower that...a lot._

As Izuku got up he spotted the crack in the wall. It was a pretty big crack considering that it was a thick concrete wall, meant to take large impacts from big explosions.

After a few seconds of looking at it, he got an idea.

 _Or maybe not._ He considered.

A month later

The chest plate had taken an extra week to finish, but that was only because Izuku had shifted focus into adding a new feature to his gauntlets and boots.

Repulser blast.

Using the arc reactor, Izuku would be able to focus the energy in his gauntlet and blast it out as a beam of light.

In other words, he could shoot lasers out of his palms and feet. Why add this feature to his feet? Why not, could come in handy.

The armor itself was almost complete, he was working on the finishing touches now and it should be done in another month or so.

As the time of their escape drew closer, Izuku started to think of Ochaco. How was she doing? Had she moved on? What would he do if she didn't want him anymore? What if she didn't like Eri? What if-

Izuku shook his head. _No. I can't think of Ochaco like that. She'll be fine. When I come back we'll all celebrate. As a family._

He had almost no doubt he would adopt Eri when they got out. The only possible issue that could disrupt that plan is if Ochaco was against it.

As he was thinking, one of the Yakuza goons that were on his side walked in. "Hey, we got good news!"

"Keep it down." Izuku reminded him. "What is it?"

"We got some help!" The goon said. "From Stain!"

"S-Stain!?" Izuku's mouth dropped. "Why would the hero killer want to help us?"

"Apparently he hates Overhaul just as much as we do." The goon said. "I donna know what Overjerk did to cross the hero killer. But he must have really screwed the pooch."

Izuku thought about this. While he was sure the hero killer would make the job easier, he was hesitant to work with Stain the hero killer. But if it meant securing Eri's safety.

"Alright, make sure he's actually on our side," Izuku told the goon. "If he betrays us, it could be the end of all of us."

"Got it." The goon said before walking out.

Izuku went back to his work. _Soon all of this will be over. Just a bit more time._


	5. Chapter 5

It was the day.

Izuku reported that he had finished the bullet. And as expected, later that day, Overhaul followed by Mimic and Chronostaisis, barged in.

"Where is it?" Overhaul demanded.

Izuku rubbed his eye, giving a secret signal to the guards outside the door, who responded by blinking twice. Everything was going as planned, no diversions.

"I reported it as soon as it finished," Izuku said. "It's right over on that table, I've also laid out the formula right next to it in case you wanted to see it."

Overhaul and his posse rushed past in, their attention laying solely on the bullet.

Just as Izuku expected.

Izuku stood by the door, with Eri by his side. He had only made her aware of the plan last night, and it was obvious she was nervous. If Overhaul weren't so distracted he probably would have noticed something was up.

"This is it, this is the start of our empire." Overhaul held the bullet up to his face, admiring it.

The guard blinked three times.

Izuku blinked once and turned Eri away.

Suddenly the two guards turned, aiming their assault rifles at Overhaul and firing.

Overhaul didn't react until it was too late. "Gah!"

"Kai! GaH!" Chronostasis was shot.

"What the-ah!" Mimic got hit. Suddenly, the small doll exploded, spitting out a large adult male.

Overhaul looked at the bullet lodged in his arm, his eyes as wide as dinner plates as dread and anger filled his body. "What...have you done!?"

"My quirk did they-ahh!" Suddenly Chrono and Mimic were shot again, this time in the knees.

The two guards had put aside their rifles and pulled out pistols that fired real bullets.

"You...traitors!" Overhaul instinctively tried to use his quirk, only remembering he couldn't when it was too late and he was shot in both his legs. Leaving all three of them on the ground

"Heh. Like our guns boss?" Goon one held up the rifle. "Modified by Midoriya himself, looks just the real thing!"

"Give the order." Izuku interrupted their gloating.

"Oh yeah." Goon two put his walkie-talkie up this mouth. "It's time boys! Give 'em hell!"

"You bastards! What is this!?" Mimic asked.

"What' da you think it is doll boy!" Goon one taunted. "We've been planning this for months! See that's the problem with hiring a genius against his will, he out smart's ya!"

"Midoriya finished that bullet months ago, and it was a side project!" Goon two laughed. "Oh, I can't wait till ya see what he was really working on."

"You! You planned this!" Overhaul glared at Izuku, who was walking over to one of the tables. "Do you really think you'll get away with this my men will-"

"Die like the freaks they are!" Goon one interrupted him. "We got a bullet for each one of your little precepts of death, and even if they fail, Stain will take em out!"

"You're done, Kai." Goon two used his real name to anger him.

"Don't call me that you trash!" Overhaul shouted as he started crawling over to them.

While the guards were taunting Overhaul Izuku could hear the firing of guns getting closer to the lab. He couldn't waste any more time.

Izuku kneeled down and opened the panel on one of the tables, before crawling inside.

"What the hell is he doing?!" Mimic asked.

"Oh, you'll see." Goon one laughed.

Once Izuku was inside, he laid down perfectly flat, and in just the right position.

Suddenly a blue light washed over him, scanning him and making sure that it was Izuku under the table and not anyone else.

After a few seconds, the scanning was complete, and it moved onto the next phase, equipping the armor.

Little mechanical arms moved to attach the pieces of the armor onto Izuku, first the boots, then the legs, then the chest, the arms, the gauntlets, and finally, the helmet.

Then the pieces began to attach to one enough, parts moved and stuck together until Izuku was fully sealed in the armor.

Then the arms lowered the arc reactor into the chest piece.

The arc reactor was put into place, and locked in. Powering up the armor with a pleasing humm.

The H.U.D. came to life, allowing Izuku to see, as well as giving him a full analysis of his surroundings and a status report of the armor.

The top of the table opened up, breaking in half and giving Izuku his exit.

He grabbed the top edge of the table and pulled himself up, revealing his grey iron man armor for all to see.

Goon one whistled. "There it is."

"What the hell is that?!" Chrono asked.

Izuku looked at Chrono. "My escape."

"Nice line g-ahhh!" Suddenly Goon 1 had a bottle thrown at his head.

"It's Sakaki!" Goon 2 said before getting a bottle thrown at his head. "Ahh!"

Deidoro Sakaki ran into the room in a panicked, but still drunken, stupor.

"Booooossss! The goons are shooten us!" Sakaki said, before looking at Izuku's armor. "Whaat the fuck is-"

" **Intoxication detected, activating auto fire."** Said the armor's hud.

Izuku's palm flew upward, and the armor fired a repulsor blast right at Sakaki's chest.

"Wahhh!" The blast hit it's mark, sending the villain flying into the wall and onto the floor. Knocked out cold.

"That thing shoots lasers!?" Mimic's eyes widened.

Izuku got out of the table, he moved around awkwardly as he was unused to wearing the armor.

"Eri, it's time to go." Izuku picked up the girl, as the two goons got off the ground.

As Izuku walked out of the room, he nodded to the two goons, giving them the signal to finish it.

They gave him a wicked smile and picked up their guns.

"Looks like the kids are away. Time for the guns to play." Goon 1 said.

"That was, so lame." Chrono deadpanned.

"Yeah well, you're dead." Goon 1 said.

"If you do this, then you'll destroy the Yakuza." Overhaul growled at the goons.

"The Yakuza died when you took over." Goon 2 cocked his gun.

With Izuku.

"Cover your ears Eri," Izuku told her as he ran farther from the lab.

Eri nodded and put her hands over her ears.

**BANG!**

**BANG!**

**BANG!**

**BANG!**

Four gunshots went off behind them. Signaling the end of Overhaul, Chronostasis, Mimic, and Deidoro Sakaki.

Izuku grit his teeth. He didn't like it. He really didn't like it. All the death and destruction that would happen here would be his fault.

But he had no choice.

"Armor. Bring up a map of the base." Izuku said.

In the corner of his H.U.D., a three-dimensional map appeared of the Yakuza base as well as multiple blips showing his enemies and allies. This was accomplished by hacking into the Yakuza's camera system.

 _It looks like Overhaul, Chronostasis, Mimic, Shin Nemoto, and Deidoro Sakaki are all dead._ Izuku looked through the camera's to see how well his plan worked. _Rikiya Katsukame lost his quirk and is currently very injured, he probably won't be alive for long. Toya Setsuno, Yu Hojo, and Soramitsu Tabe are all still alive and have their quirks and are fighting off the goons together. Setsuno probably used his quirk to steal the guns before they could fire them. Kendo Rappa and Hekiji Tengai also have their quirks and are fighting them off. Damn it, this didn't go nearly as well as I thought. Most of them are trying to get to where Overhaul was meaning that they're all blocking my path!_

The plan was a simple one. Use the quirk erasing bullets to depower and kill Overhaul and the eight precepts of death. Without them, the enemy wouldn't stand a chance against Izuku's forces. However with most of the eight precepts still alive then their victory was no longer certain. Now they would have to do this the hard way. Izuku's

"Iron Man online. Report." Izuku activated the coms they had established for this mission.

A distorted voice came in reply. "Most of the goons are busy. I killed all the goons on the outside and I'm making my way through the facility now."

"Stain." Izuku immediately knew who this was. Stain was the only person whose voice would be distorted and the only person who would have come from the outside.

"Yes." Stain confirmed. "Did everything go as planned?"

"No. A few of the eight precepts are still alive and blocking my path. They're too powerful for the goons to take alone." Izuku said.

"Tell me who to kill and where to go." Stain said.

"Suit, bring up Stain's location." One of the blue dots on Izuku's map started blinking green. "Right now you're closest to Setsuno, Hojo, and Tabe. Take two lefts then make a right."

"On it." Stain said.

 _Hopefully, that should take care of them._ Izuku looked at the map. _But that still leaves Rappa and Tangai. They're closest to me and approaching fast. These goons won't be able to hold them. I need a plan and soon!_

Izuku looked at the maps and considered every option, every room, every ally, every possible thing he could use.

 _I think. I have a plan._ Izuku thought.

Meanwhile, elsewhere.

Toya Setsuno, Yu Hojo, and Soramitsu Tabe were fighting off the waves of traitorous Yakuza goons.

They hid behind Hojo and his crystals while the goons shot bullets at them.

Setsuno stuck his hand out of cover and activated his quirk, one by one the guns the goons were using were taken from them until they were left without any weapons.

Tabe ran out from behind the cover, now that his enemies were disarmed nothing was stopping his teeth from reaching the enemies.

"AhhHHH!" The screams of the goons resonated through the halls as they're bodies were bitten into. Blood splashed onto the walls and floors as Tabe mauled them, tearing into their innards until they laid dead at his feet.

"Damn traitors." Setsuno dropped a few of the guns, keeping one just in case.

"We need to get to Overhaul." Hojo deactivated his quirk.

Tabe finished up eating part of one of the goons and looked in the direction of his two friends. His eyes went wide as he saw something behind them. "Look out! Behind you!"

"Huh!? They turned just in time to see Stain, sword drawn and aimed for Setsuno's head.

The blond-haired criminal barely managed to move out of the way in time, with Sten's sword managing to nick his neck slightly, drawing a little bit of blood.

Setsuno and Hojo backed up as far as they could, standing next to Tabe as the three of them got ready to fight.

"Who the hell are you?" Setsuno shouted at him. He didn't recognize him as one of the traitors meaning this was someone else.

Stain grinned like the mad man he was. The hero killer was wearing what could only be described as a cyber ninja outfit. He was covered in red and grey armor, with a red mask covering the upper half of his face. There was a utility belt around his waist and the armor itself was covered in spikes and compartments to keep knives.

He took the sword he cut Setsuno with and licked the blood off the blade.

Suddenly Setsuno felt strange for a moment, and then he was unable to move.

"What the!? I can't move!" Setsuno panicked as he tried desperately to move any part of his body.

"The Yakuza is an old disease that should have been cured long ago. The fact that trash like you still roams free is proof that our current hero system is a failure." Stain said. "Allow me to fix their mistake."

Hojo blinked, and Stain was in front of him. Moving at speeds they could barely comprehend.

His body reacted and crystallized his chest, just barely able to block Stain's blade from ripping into him.

Hojo crystallized his arm turning it into a hard, jagged piller, and swung it at Stain.

Stain jumped back, avoiding the attack.

Tabe ran at Stain, his jaws open and ready to bite.

He lunged at Stain, who ducked before sticking his swords through his chest.

"Tabe!?" The two other villains cried out as their friend was impaled.

Stain slashed his swords through either side of Tabe's body, sending his blood and innards flying through the air. His body dropped to the floor. Dead.

"One down." Stain pressed a button on his swords. They made a whirring noise and then started glowing red, energy crackling off of them like bolts of lightning. "Two more to go."

"You bastard!" Hojo ran at Stain with his crystallized body, his arms out and ready to smash.

Stain took out a small orb from one of his pouches and threw it out over Hojo's shoulder.

"You missed you son of a-"

Before Hojo could finish, dozens of holes opened up in the orb, and extremely small daggers shot out in all directions, with about eight of them stabbing into Hojo's back.

"AHHH!" Hojo stopped his charge as he recoiled in pain.

**STAB**

While Hojo was recoiling, Stain charged forward and buried his sword into his chest.

Right through his crystals, right through his chest, right through his heart.

The life faded from the man's eyes, and he fell limp onto Stain's sword.

Stain pressed the button and the red glow faded from his sword. He pulled the blade out of the man's chest, letting the body fall to the floor as he looked at his final victim.

Setsuno was staring in disbelief at his friend's bodies. They had been killed, and so easily as well. And now he was going to die too!

"I'm glad I paralyzed you first. Your quirk would have been problematic for me to deal with." Stain said as he walked towards the terrified man.

The man was about to scream, but Stain charged forward and cut off his head.

"Sorry. I'm in a rush." Stain said. "Now let's go find Midoriya."

Meanwhile, elsewhere.

Tangai and Rappa ran down the halls towards the lab with a group of loyal Yakuza goons.

"I still haven't heard anything from Overhaul!" Tangai shouted. He was panicking, he'd been trying to contact Overhaul since the insurrection started, but he got no response.

"Overjerk it fine, no way he'd get killed by one of these weak goons," Rappa said.

They ran past a corridor, and one of the goons spotted something.

"Watch out!" The goon warned.

Izuku popped out of the corridor with both armed raised. He fired two quirk erasing bullets at Tangai and Rappa.

Tangai was hit in the shoulder but one of the Yakuza goons jumped in the way of the bullet meant for Rappa.

"An attack?!" Tangai tried to put up a shield. "Wait, my quirk?! Are these our bullets!?"

"He tried using our own bullets against us! The bastard!" The Yakuza goons charged at Izuku.

Izuku's armor scanned the five goons coming at him and activated his shoulder-mounted mini-missile launcher.

The missiles came out and blasted the goons away, sending them sprawling onto the floor unconscious.

Next, he opened his palm and blasted Tangai in the chest with a repulsor blast, knocking Tangai out immediately.

"Looks like I might finally get a good fight outta this!" Rappa smiled as he charged towards Izuku.

Rappa charged at Izuku hurling his fist at him at inhuman speeds.

Izuku activated his repulsor blast in his feet and rocketed backwards into the hallway he came from away from Rappa's attack.

He landed far away from the villain, making sure there was a large distance between them.

"You're too slow!" Izuku taunted. _Come on, follow me!  
_

"Don't run away! Fight me like a man!" Rappa charged into the hallway towards Izuku.

 _Good, this hallway is too narrow for him to dodge anything. He's like a fish in a barrel!_ Izuku blasted Rappa with his repulsor beam.

The attack hit dead-on, stopping him momentarily, but not doing all too much damage.

"Is that all you got!" Rappa started charging at him again.

Izuku fired again, this time with both his palms.

Rappa brought his arms together, guarding against the attack as it hit him head-on. It knocked him back a few inches, but overall, didn't do much.

 _He's tough._ Izuku thought as Rappa started charging again.

"Increase the power of the repulsor blast to fifty percent," Izuku told the armor. After hearing his palms hum, he fired again at Rappa.

Rappa ran towards him with his arms up, ready to block any attack coming at him.

The blast hit Rappa knocking him back a foot and leaving some burns on his arms. But the villain kept on running, getting closer and closer to Izuku.

 _He doesn't have a durability quirk he shouldn't be able to take these attacks so easily!_ Izuku thought. "Increase repluser power to seventy-five percent and switch from blast to beam."

Izuku fired again, this time rather than just a blast of energy it came out as a continuous beam.

The beam hit Rappa's arms, this time with greater result and knocking Rappa back a few feet.

Rappa dug his feet into the ground, smiling as his strength was really getting put to the test. "Now that's more like it! Give me everything ya got tin man!"

"It's Iron Man!" Izuku corrected. "And how are you enduring this!?"

"My body's taken plenty' a blows! My skin's as tough as steel by now!" Rappa responded as he started walking through the beam, slowly but surely making his way toward Izuku.

Izuku looked at his suit's power bar. He had already used up forty percent of his power and it was still draining. He really should have taken the time to increase the energy efficiency of the armor.

 _I might run out of power before he goes down, and even if I might not have enough power to get out of here!_ Izuku thought. _If I use a hundred percent power I might still not be able to take him down quick enough. Will I have to use that!? If I do then that'll use another chunk of my power!_

Izuku calculated his options in his head, all while Rappa was getting closer to him.

 _I have no choice! I have to use it._ Izuku turned off his repulsor beams.

"What's wrong otta juice!?" Rappa came running at him.

"Reroute all power to the arc reactor," Izuku ordered the armor.

Izuku waited until Rappa was almost right on top of him. His fist cocked and ready to punch Izuku's lights out.

Izuku opened up his arms, leaving his chest wide open. "UNI BEAM!"

**BERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR**

A bright and massive beam of light engulfed Rappa, consuming him completely before rushing through the rest of the hall, then into the room Tengai and the Yakuza were in, and then through the wall, nothing stopped it as it destroyed everything in its path.

The beam only lasted for about seven seconds, before dying down.

With the light gone Izuku could see what had happened.

Rappa was gone, and there was a hole in the room the knocked out Yakuza were in, that lead all the way through the base.

 **"Power at twenty percent."** The armor warned him.

Izuku winced. He would have to be strict on his power consumption, but he could make it. But first.

"Armor, where is Rappa?" Izuku asked the armor.

The armor scanned for the answer. **"He is no longer on the map. Camera's suggest he has been blasted out of the facility."**

"So he's not dead?" Izuku asked hopefully.

" **Unlikely."** The armor answered.

Izuku would have liked to confirm that himself. But he needed to get out and there and fast before he ran out of power.

"Eri!" Izuku shouted into the Hallway. "Cost is clear!"

After a few moments, Eri came running from her hiding spot.

"Are you ok Izuku?" Eri asked, concerned that maybe he had gotten hurt.

"I'm fine," Izuku said, picking her up into his arms. "We need to go!"

Izuku walked through the halls. He would run, but running would drain the battery faster.

He looked at the map, most of his forces had been taken down by the precepts and were now being killed by the remaining Overhaul goons.

And a large assortment of remaining goons was now slowly gathering together, coming towards Izuku as he was on the path to where the lab was. Overhaul's last known location before the attack happened.

 _Looking at all the remaining Yakuza and their locations, I'll likely run into twenty thugs before I can get to the exit._ Izuku thought. _And Stain is currently dealing with the remaining thugs. I don't have enough power to use my weapons on all of them. I'll have to take them down hand to hand._

"Disable all weapon systems and go into power conservation mode," Izuku ordered.

" **Weapons systems offline."** The computer said.

Izuku looked at the weapons the Yakuza were holding through the camera. _Guns and swords won't do anything so they won't be a problem, three rocket launches, those will hurt. I'll need to do something about those._

He was getting closer to the goons and he had a plan in mind. Kind of.

"Eri." He addressed her as he set her down. "Run the other way until you're out of sight!"

Eri nodded and did as she was told.

Izuku turned around, he could hear the goons coming into the room ahead and he ducked into the corner of the hallway so he was barely out of sight.

He punched the concrete wall with his fist, and pulled out two chunks of it and held one in each fist.

 _Time to be a hero._ Izuku thought.

He charged into the room facing each of the Yakuza thugs.

He threw the two chunks of wall at two of the rocket launcher wielding goons, hitting them in the head and knocking them out.

Eighteen.

The gun-wielding goons fired at him, their bullets bouncing off his armor like they were nothing, as the last rocket wielding goon was taking aim.

A katana-wielding goon charged at him, only for Izuku to grab him by the throat and throw him at the last rocket launcher goon. Making them both fall to the floor and drop their weapons, but not taking them out of the fight.

Two more Katana wielding goons came at him, their swords doing no more damage than the bullets. Izuku grabbed their heads and smashed them together. Knocking them into unconsciousness.

Sixteen.

One of the goons tried to grab one of the fallen rocket launchers. Izuku one the Katana's and threw it at that goon, the butt of the sword hitting him in the face.

Fifteen.

One of the goons decided to use his quirk and turned his head into iron, he grabbed Izuku and tried to head-butt him, but Izuku caught his head with his hands and kneed him in the stomach.

Then he pushed him to the ground and grabbed him by one of his legs.

He picked the goon up in the air and charged towards three of the gun-wielding goons and hit them all with the iron-headed goon's head, using him like a mace and taking them all out. Then Izuku threw him at one of the other goons.

Ten.

While Izuku's back was turned another goon tried to use his quirk on him as well, turning his nails into razor-sharp claws.

" **Attack from behind detected."** The armor warned Izuku.

Izuku whipped his head back, hitting the goon with the back of his helmet and knocking him to the floor.

Izuku turned around and stomped on his face.

Nine.

Izuku saw that the thug he threw at the rock launcher goon and the rocket launcher goon were getting back up.

He dug his hands into the floor and picked up two slabs of concrete, before throwing it at them, knocking them out once and for all.

Seven.

One of the thugs for whatever reason tried to take Izuku on with his fist. He probably had a minor strength quirk. It didn't matter to Izuku one bit who just caught both his fist, and head-butted him, over and over and over again until he was out.

Six.

" **Attack from behind detected."** The armor warned him.

**BOOM!**

"AH!" Izuku shouted. One of the goons had managed to pick one of the rocket launches and fired it at Izuku's shoulder.

" **Armor integrity at seventy percent."** The computer said.

Izuku's shoulder was somewhat burnt and parts of it were slightly broken. He was sweating inside the armor. The armor had taken most of the force and heat but he could still feel it a little.

Izuku saw one of the goons heading for the other rocket launches and he lunged at him, tackling him onto the floor.

He pushed the goon down underneath him and punched him in the face, his head hitting the floor with enough force to crack it. Rendering him unconscious.

Five.

" **Attack from behind detected."** The armor warned.

Izuku looked behind him and saw another goon had picked up the rocket launcher and aimed it at him.

He rolled off away just as the goon fired, causing him to miss and the rocket to hit the wall.

Izuku grabbed one of the guns that a goon dropped and fired it at the goon's legs.

"AHH!" The goon fell to the ground, his knees bleeding.

Four.

Izuku picked up another gun and started opening fire on the Yakuza, who ran and dived away from the gunfire in their attempts to avoid it. But two of them got hit, leaving them bleeding and lying on the floor.

Two.

The two Yakuza goons looked at Izuku with terror in their eyes.

Then, one of the goons took out a knife and slit the other one's throat, surprising Izuku.

One.

The remaining goon started drinking the spurting blood from the goon's neck, his eyes turned red, his muscles started bulging out of his clothes and his hair turned white.

Izuku looked at the now powered up and much more intimidating goon. And readied himself to fight.

Fourteen percent power.

One goon left.

The goon charged at Izuku cocking his fist back to attack Izuku.

He caught both of his fists, locking them into a contest of strength.

Izuku pushed his arms back, his armor giving his greater power.

However the goon weighed more than Izuku, and so he slammed Izuku up into the low ceiling.

Izuku crashed onto the ground and the goon stomped on his head, over and over and over. Until Izuku grabbed his ankle and gripped it with all his strength and the goon's bones gave off a cracking sound.

"ahhhh!" The goon took his foot away from Izuku.

Izuku got up and charged at the goon, pinning him into a wall.

Then he punched him in the face with everything he had, beating him over and over.

The goon tried to punch Izuku off of him but Izuku blocked the attack with his left arm before socking him with his right.

He kneed him in the stomach, broke one of his ribs, broke his nose, and broke his jaw.

Then he kicked the goons leg out from under him, causing the goon to fall on his knee.

Brought both his fist together and raised them over the goons head.

**CRACK!**

And brought it down on the goon's head, knocking him out and sending him onto the floor.

None. And done.

Izuku breathed in deeply, struggling for breath. He wanted to take off the faceplate so he could breathe a bit better, but he needed to see the H.U.B. to see the map and his power bar.

And after spending almost a year inside this hell, he needed freedom more than air anyway.

He looked at his power bar. Eight percent. Then he looked at his map. All of the enemies were either knocked out or dead. It was just him, Eri, and Stain.

Speaking of Stain.

"Midoriya, are you still alive?" Came Stain's distorted voice from his armor's communication system.

"I'm alive. They're gone. All the enemies have been. Neutralized." Izuku reported. "It's just you me and the girl."

"Can you get out of here alright Sir?" Stain asked.

"I'm fine. My armor is at eighty percent power and all my weapons are fully operational." Izuku lied. He didn't know if Stain was going to betray them, so he couldn't let him know how valuable he was.

"Well, then it looks like my job is done." And with that Stain cut communications, and seconds later he vanished off the map.

Izuku wanted to ask him why he helped him, but using his comms had taken him down to seven percent.

"Armor, turn off all combat-related abilities." He needed to conserve power. "Eri! Come on we need to go!"

After a minute Eri arrived standing in front of him.

"Eri, I'm running out of power so I need you to walk ok," Izuku told her.

Eri nodded while giving him a concerned look.

The two walked through the base, Izuku turning off functions throughout to conserve power.

"Turn off all H.U.D. options besides the map and the power bar."

" **Done."**

"Reduce the size of the map to only our escape route."

" **Done."**

"Turn off speakers."

Eventually, the two reached a fake wall that led to the above-ground building.

Izuku punched through it, now having five percent power left.

"Turn off the map," Izuku said, the map disappearing from his hud.

The two walked through the building until they finally reached the exit.

"Finally," Izuku said. Eri could only hear his muffled voice from inside the armor after he turned off the speaker.

Izuku slid open the door, and immediately the two of them were hit with sunlight.

The two of them covered their eyes, this having been the first time they'd seen the sun in a long, long time.

The two walked through the garden, true to Stain's word it was filled with dead Yakuza, their bodies bleeding and slumped over. The blood dying all the flowers into roses.

Izuku covered Eri's eyes as they walked through and up to the gates.

Izuku put his hand on the gates. He cocked his other arm back.

**PUNCH! PUNCH! PUNCH!**

The door broke off. And the two stepped out. Finally leaving that horrible place behind.

Eri looked around at the city in front of her, staring at the cars, the trees, the building, and the people who were looking at them oddly.

She turned to Izuku. "Are we...free now?"

"Disengage and deactivate armor," Izuku said.

Suddenly, the armor unlocked itself, it's individual pieces twisting and turning before falling off, until finally, Izuku was free.

He breathed in the fresh air for the first time in almost a year. "Yes, Eri. Yes, we are."

The two of them looked at each other for a moment, before the tears started rolling down their faces.

Eri lept into Izuku's arms as the two sobbed with joy. It had been so long. So, so long.

But finally, the nightmare was over.

After a few minutes of just them crying, a black limo pulled up in front of them.

A door swung open, and out came his wife Ochaco Midoriya.

The two looked at each other in shock for a moment, before Ochaco started to cry.

She ran to Izuku, and the two embraced before kissing passionately over their reunion.

The kiss lasted for a good long while until the two finally separated.

"It's you." Ochaco cried. "It's really you."

"It's me." Izuku smiled like an idiot. The amount of happiness and relief he felt was indescribable. "H-How did you find me? How did you know I was here?"

"We received a tip that you might be here." Chizome got out of the limo. "At first we thought it was some kind of prank but since we were in the area we decided to drive over here."

"We thought you were dead!" Ochaco broke down, sobbing in his arms. "Where have you been!? What happened to you!?"

"So much." Was all Izuku could say. "So much has happened, I don't even know where to start...But I do know something. I want three things."

"And what would that be sir?" Chizome asked.

"I want to adopt this girl." Izuku gestured to Eri, who was looking at Ochaco from behind his leg. "Her name is Eri."

Ochaco's eyes went wide. "A-adopt, I'm-"

She looked into Izuku's eyes, his pleading, desperate, hopeful eyes.

"We can...talk about it some more later," Ochaco said.

Izuku smiled. That was basically a yes. "Next, once the police and the government and the heroes are all done here, I want to buy this land."

Chizome raised an eyebrow in confusion. "You want to...buy this place?"

"Yes," Izuku confirmed. "Then I want the building torn down, the tunnels demolished and caved in, every scrap of this place destroyed. Then I want to turn it into a graveyard."

He wanted this place so destroyed that only the dead would live there.

"And lastly." Izuku turned to Ocahco. "I want to get far, far away from this place, go home, and hug my wife and daughter until we fall asleep."

Ochaco smiled at him through the tears. "That can be arranged."

They all climbed into the limo, but as Izuku was getting in, he looked at the armor.

"Chizome. Put the armor in the trunk." Izuku ordered.

"Any particular reason why sir?" Chizome asked.

"I don't know," Izuku said. "It just wouldn't feel right to leave without it."

Chizome looked at Izuku for a moment, before turning around to do as he was told. Hiding his grin all the while. _You've changed boss. And I think I'm going to like the result._

After the armor was put into the car, Chizome got in, and they all rode away.

Leaving the Yakuza behind and never turning back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so ends the Origin/Yakuza arc. Let's address some questions you may have
> 
> Q: How long was Izuku there?
> 
> A: A little over Ten Months. Maybe eleven.
> 
> Q: How did the Yakuza goons and Rappa survive so many things that should have killed them?
> 
> A: Humans in the MHAverse are shown to be way tougher than regular humans even without endurance quirks. Bakugo got slammed into a building by All Might and both Stain and Tomura have survived things that should have killed them.
> 
> Q: Why is Stain different?
> 
> A: He works as the head bodyguard for the most advanced tech company in the world, and you think he's not gonna take that shit for himself? He's got lots of stolen Midoriya tech so of course, he looks different. And this won't be his final look either.
> 
> Q: What are the legal ramifications of what Izuku did?
> 
> A: Find out next chapter.
> 
> Q: Why was Izuku so ok with people being killed?
> 
> A: He couldn't save them. Trust me he tried thinking of all kinds of different ways to save everyone, but in the end, there was simply no way he and Eri could escape without someone dying. He simply chose Eri's life over theirs.
> 
> Q: Why was the armor so weak?
> 
> A: It's a prototype made specifically for getting out of the Yakuza base, hence why it can't fly, made while he was under surveillance from Overhaul, with somewhat limited resources. Of course, it's not going to be as strong as the armors Izuku will use later in this story.


End file.
